


pardon me but wasn't that your heart

by arashiyama (harukatenoh)



Category: World Trigger (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Getting Together, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Polyamory, Twitter, i cant express it enough., this is so dumb.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 11:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16974171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harukatenoh/pseuds/arashiyama
Summary: The different types of sleeping, and the consequences thereof.





	pardon me but wasn't that your heart

**Author's Note:**

> i set out to write Serious Feelings aratachijin as opposed to dumb shenanigans bs but that... obviously didn't happen. i have sunken so much time into this fic and i truly do not know what for it is So Dumb. sorry if its kinda messy towards the end characterization wise i tried my best but tachikawa kei is as difficult as a character as he is as a person
> 
> work title is from pardon me by the blow. damila and jo and serena if ur reading this i love u

**border's top bitch** @mochikawa   
hello everyone~ anybody out there seen arashiyama he hasn't replied to my messages for two hours (-ω-、)

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@mochikawa ur actn rl clngy 4 smbdy who dsn't hv th guts 2 ntr an offcl rltnshp

**border's top bitch** @mochikawa   
@izmikhei and WHO asked you hmm

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@mochikawa At 12:43 JST 14/05/2017, “border's top bitch” @mochikawa sent: anybody out there

**border’s top bitch** @mochikawa   
@izmikhei such disrespect... does somebody want more exercises in the next training session hmm~?

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@mochikawa cptn <3 <3 <3 luv u <3 <3 <3 ur th bst <3 <3 <3

**stabs without warning** @grasshopperfan   
@izmikhei @mochikawa izumin-senpai...

**stabs in retaliation** @thatspearguy   
@grasshopperfan @izmikhei @mochikawa midorikawa… don’t learn from this guy… integrity is a key trait to have

**border’s top bitch** @mochikawa   
@yoneyousuke @grasshopperfan @izmikhei all of you here in my notifs and yet nobody answers the question~ 

**stabs in retaliation** @thatspearguy   
@mochikawa @grasshopperfan @izmikhei nope sorry

**stabs without warning** @grasshopperfan   
@mochikawa @yoneyousuke @izmikhei ask jin-san!

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@mochikawa @yoneyousuke @grasshopperfan kp trck of ur own bf

  
  


Kei felt antsy. Anxious, even, though he wouldn’t admit that in any circumstance. Kei considered himself cool and dashing—was considered so by enough people to make it real—and he didn’t care for betraying this nature by being nervous or squirmy.

Yet here he was, hunched over on a couch in some room in Border, staring at the homework laid in front of him but barely taking it in, feeling like he wanted to bite his nails or go for a run or do  _ anything _ to work off this onslaught of anxious energy.

Tsukimi was sitting across him and supposed to be engrossed in her homework but obviously not, since she was here being engrossed in Kei’s problems instead. She raised an eyebrow at him.

She seemed to weigh up the situation, considering in that ever careful and assured way of hers how to go about it. 

Kei sucked in a shaky breath.

“Are you… okay?” She finally asked.

He gritted a menacing smile at her in a clear sign to back off. “Of course,”

Tsukimi had known him for several years now, so she knew that he was lying. She also knew to drop the subject.

She nodded. “It seems we aren’t getting much done,” she continued, changing the subject smoothly. 

Kei nodded in return. It wasn’t like he ever got much done during the mandated study sessions Director Shinoda set for him, complete with somebody to babysit him during, but it was strange that Tsukimi seemed just as distracted. Not that it showed on her face. In her actions, though, Kei could see the signs of preoccupation.

WIth a short nod herself, Tsukimi started packing her things away. “Next time, then. We’ll work extra hard” she said, as if that excused their inattentiveness.

“I’m sure you’ll work me like a dog,” Kei replied, resisting the urge to poke his tongue out at her; just because hanging out with his childhood friend  made him want to act like a child didn’t mean he should indulge it. Dashing and cool, he had to remember.

Tsukimi smiled at him, a promise in her eyes to do exactly that.

They finished the packing up quickly afterwards, both with the urge to be somewhere else. Tsukimi looked purposeful, but all Kei had was restless energy and nothing to do with it. By the time she was striding out of the room, a direction already clearly in mind, he was still pacing around the table trying to figure out his next move.

He hated being anxious. 

With a groan, he decided to get out of the room. He was a man of action, and no amount of anxiety or apprehension or other dumb emotional problems could stop him. 

He picked up his stuff and left, resolving to fall back on his one, and hopefully only, true love. Sword-fighting.

  
  


**Satori Ken** @twinsniper   
Don’t panic but captain is definitely dead lol

 

**Tokieda Mitsuru** @tokki   
Nobody pay attention to Satori.

 

**Kitora Ai** @kitorai   
Captain just missed a meeting…

**Kuroe** @likeabutterfly   
@kitorai the captain reflects on the entire unit.

**Kitora Ai** @kitorai   
@likeabutterfly @tokki

**Tokieda Mitsuru** @tokki   
@kitorai @likeabutterfly so then how does kako-san missing half of the invasion because she was out on a drive reflect on you kuroe?

**dog shouter** @iksh   
@tokki @kitorai @likeabutterfly sorry to butt in, and sick burn tokieda, but did kitora just call for backup in an online fight

**arafune** @prfctallrounder   
@iksh @tokki @kitorai @likeabutterfly even online, arashiyama unit’s teamwork is unparalleled

  
  


Kei was halfway into a simulation sequence and contentedly hacking away at neighbours when it was switched off, leaving him swinging his sword at nothing. The movement, without the anticipated bulk of a Neighbour to slow it down, threw him off balance and he was too tired and too antsy to fight his impending fall. Instead, he went with the momentum and let it pull him forward, collapsing onto the ground with a sigh.

There were only three people who knew the code he used to lock the simulations during training. He knew who he was expecting.

He closed his eyes and listened to the footsteps approach, a lazy smile already fixed on his face.

The footsteps paused, somewhere close beside him, like somebody approaching the edge of the water. There was caution in the air; Kei could continue to smile all he wanted but he still felt it, a lingering silence and awkwardness that wound its way around him and his faceless companion.

It was a stalemate. The feeling from before, mutinous and toxic, multiplied and found its way into every part of Kei, until he felt like screaming. Kei had made some terrible, no good, awful decisions in the past, but there was no describing how strongly he regretted the decision that lead to the current situation. He was one for owning his bad choices. This one, he wanted nothing to do with.

“Is this how Border’s number one attacker trains?” Jin’s voice rang out. 

With that teasing remark, they both resolved to banish whatever was stewing between them to the shadows where it belonged. It was probably for the best. 

Jin’s comment was followed by a thud that signified he was now sitting beside Kei’s prone form.

“I’m number one. Whatever I’m doing is clearly working,” Kei replied, not opening his eyes. The adrenaline from training was slowly fading,  replaced by a satisfying weariness as he let himself relax.

Jin snorted a laugh, and it was only with years of observing Jin under his belt that Kei could tell there was an edge to it.

He opened his eyes.

Jin was beside him, head propped up on his hand, watching him with those ever scrutinizing blue eyes. He was smiling, and Kei was smiling, and he didn’t think either of them were genuine in the slightest, but that didn’t matter.

Kei said “Hey, go a round with me,” 

After all, sometimes, Jin was easy to read.

Jin’s eyes flashed, and he said “Let’s see what you’ve got, number one,”

Obviously, they didn’t go for just  _ a _ round. They went for five rounds, three-two Kei’s way. It left him smug and satisfied, but only slightly. He had barely managed to scrape through the last win, his blade finding a place in Jin’s neck just before he ran out of trion. Still, a win was a win, and Kei was almost willing to take anything he could get with Jin.

The edge to Jin’s demeanour had faded; the desired goal of the skirmishes, and Kei let himself flop back onto the floor with a sincere smile this time. He didn’t have to look to know that Jin was doing the same, laying on the cool ground. He didn’t have to look to know that Jin was smiling too, albeit a little more reserved, a little less sincere.

Kei was fine with that. He knew when to pick and choose his battles.

Jin sighed, a soft and bare thing that most people wouldn’t notice. It spoke of a tiredness that went beyond the battles they just had, and the strange antsy feeling of before returned to Kei all at once. It was something he was feeling a lot lately; the sources were obvious, but not things he was willing to name.

Well, the best way to deal with things was to face them head on.

“How was therapy?” Kei asked, because at their most essential, he and Jin had two great equalizers—fighting, and feelings. One of those things, they both excelled at; the other, not so much.

Jin said “Therapy was therapy,”.

Kei made a grunt of assent. Silence ensued.

Then, naturally, because the two of them were involved, one of them ruined the moment.

“Were you worried about me, Tachikawa? How touching,”

Kei grinned. “Only worried I was kicking a man who was already down by beating you in those battles,” he sniped back, revelling in the laugh that Jin gave afterwards.

“One more round?” Jin asked.

“One more round,” Kei confirmed, pulling himself up off of the ground. He considered offering a hand to help Jin up, but left Jin to get up himself and started walking towards the opposite side of the room. He didn’t need to look back to know that Jin was doing the same, walking the opposite way, resuming his position.

At the end of a gruelling and exhilarating round, Jin won.

It brought their tally to three-three. 

Kei wasn’t upset by the result. Being even pleased him more than anything, because that was how it should be. At the end of the day, past black triggers and side effects and rank, Jin and Kei were toe-to-toe, face-to-face. They were  _ equals _ , neither giving up, neither backing away, and the feeling made Kei’s blood sing.

When he met Jin’s gaze, eyes flashing with the same kind of gritty, defiant thrill, he knew they were on the same page. Past any of the…  _ hang-ups _ they may have been dealing with, he and Jin could still find this brutal kind of peace with each other.

They all needed some peace.

Jin tossed him a drink from the vending machine and Kei caught it easily, cracking open the can of green tea with one hand. Jin rolled his eyes and opened his with two, and Kei let himself be a little smug over their age difference. It wasn’t something he flaunted often, because he liked his superiorities to not be given ones, but most bets were off the table when it came to Jin.

And then, when Kei took a sip of his green tea and decided to follow that up with “Have you heard from Arashiyama today?”, he managed to sweep any of the last remaining bets onto the floor, never to be salvaged again.

Jin stiffened. Kei very wisely—rather out of character for him—feigned not noticing.

“No, I haven’t,” Jin said. He and Kei went on to pretend that that wasn’t extremely out of the ordinary. Kei had felt slighted enough by the two hour period of silence to tweet about it, sure, but Jin also suffering that from Arashiyama?

That was unheard of. The awful, anxious, sickly feeling returned all at once. Kei was getting pretty fucking tired of it. At least Kei knew now that Arashiyama wasn’t avoiding him specifically, but the other option was that he was avoiding both him and Jin and that—that was really bad.

“You don’t know where he is?” Kei followed up.

Jin shook his head. Kei waited for him to elaborate, which he didn’t.

He said “How out of character, no snooping around people’s futures today?” and realized it was the wrong thing to say about halfway through the sentence.  The look on Jin’s face left some desire for improvement. 

Jin, with a grin that was nothing but slyness and insincerity, replied “If you’re wondering whether Izumi actually buys you lunch later like he promised, I can tell you it’s not happening,”. 

Kei sniffed and acted like he hadn’t been worrying about that, and waited for Jin to get to the point.

“I’ve been looking,” Jin started. “Just not into Arashiyama’s future. Not unless it’s absolutely necessary. He doesn’t—I get the feeling he doesn’t like it much,”

Kei shifted on the spot. That was uncomfortable to hear. He wouldn’t say he was jealous, because he and Jin were him and Jin, and Arashiyama and Jin were Arashiyama and Jin, but he was… disconcerted. 

There was an entire undercurrent of Arashiyama-and-Jin and Jin-and-Arashiyama, and he didn’t know if he had a place.

It made sense that Arashiyama wouldn’t like knowing his future. 

Kei, as much as he fronted, loved it. It was a challenge, an ever-evolving competition between him and Jin and his fate, which may or may not have been the same thing. He couldn’t beat the future, but he wasn’t about to just go with it either, and it was in that kind of cocky defiance that he excelled.

Arashiyama, on the other hand, probably found no joy in being given another expectation to live up to.

The feeling persisted.

“You know mine,” Kei said. “You could find out from that,”. 

Kei had some ideas about the source of this feeling. He thought maybe if he could find Arashiyama, and get him to smile and say all convincingly that he wasn’t avoiding Kei, then it would go away. And everything could go back to normal, things with Jin included. Because Jin was a part of this situation as well.

God, Kei had regrets.

Jin shrugged. “I didn’t look that deeply into your future. Just enough to know that nothing terrible was in store,” He paused, the weight of admission in the air. “I don’t look deeply into most people’s futures anymore,”

“Ah, what’s this?”Kei sniped back, unsure what to say to that. “Are you wasting such a useful power, Jin?”

Jin was all teeth and lips and cheekbones when he said “Maybe I’m a little fed up of living inside everybody else’s future. Even talented elites get tired, you know.”

It was a breaking point. It was an invitation for all of the prior awkwardness and tension and fear to come rushing back, filling up the space between them until Kei couldn’t get a word in edgewise. He had fucked up. Kei was pretty used to fucking up, but this time was spectacularly bad. 

Jin was edge after edge after edge now, sharpness and brightness mixed into one devastatingly hot and also generally devastating image.

It reminded Kei of a few nights ago, nestled in the warmth of the covers while Jin stood in the doorway with the same look. He remembered his head pounding and the darkness encroaching upon everything until all he could properly make out was Jin, vicious and weary, stealing into the night.

Kei was really on a roll with bad decisions lately.

“Then enjoy living in the present like the rest of us,” he said, trying to sound a little meaningful about it.

Jin shrugged, apparently disinterested now. “Don’t worry, I will.”With a refined, casual movement, he threw his now empty can of tea into the bin. He smiled. “I’m off to look for our Prince Charming,”

He walked away, and Kei was left with his green tea and his regrets. Then he registered what Jin had just said, and had to set aside a few minutes to consider the gravity of how totally fucked he was.

_ Our Prince Charming  _ played in his head over and over until he felt almost dizzy—what the  _ fuck _ , he didn’t get  _ dizzy _ —at the thought of anything being both his and Jin’s. Anything, but in particularly Arashiyama. He and Jin were notoriously bad at sharing. Arashiyama was distant and unreachable. 

It was all… all a little much.

Kei was pretty fucked.

With a groan, he resolved to train away his feelings until all he could think about was the rush and repeat of the fight.

  
  


**stabs without warning** @grasshopperfan   
@talentedelite hello!!! jin-san!!!!! have u seen arashiyama-san in the past two-ish hours!?!?!

**jin~jin~jin~** @talentedelite   
@grasshopperfan hello shun, unfortunately no i’ve been rather preoccupied. talented elites just never get a moment of rest

**stabs without warning** @grasshopperfan   
@talentedelite oh of course!!!! jin-san ur so cool!!!!

 

**Satori Ken** @twinsniper   
Jin-san doesn’t know where captain is… I said this before but this time he’s definitely dead lol

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@twinsniper f

**karasuma** @torimaru   
@twinsniper f

**nire~!** @nireisalwaysrestless   
@twinsniper f

**it’s delicate** @riptidemp3   
@twinsniper f

 

**Kitora Ai** @kitorai   
Please disregard everything that Satori-senpai is currently tweeting. He will be dealt with shortly.

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@kitorai dmn thts knda intnts

 

**Satori Ken** @twinsniper   
I retract any previous statements and respectfully ask for everyone to forgive my misleading tweets. Thank you.

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@twinsniper ????

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@twinsniper bb r u ok

**Satori Ken** @twinsniper   
@izmikhei Fine. Thank you for your concern.

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@twinsniper ???????? BABE ???????????????

  
  


“I think Kitora killed Ken and is tweeting from his account,” Izumi said, looking up from his phone. He didn’t seem very distressed about the apparent death of his boyfriend. 

Kei made a grunt of disinterest.

Izumi grinned at Kei. “Hey, now we match. Dead boyfriends, high five!” except halfway through the high-five motion, which Kei wasn’t going to return anyway, Izumi stopped himself with an even slimier grin. “Oh wait, only one of us had enough guts to actually get a boyfriend.”

“Why are you even here?” Kei asked, because he wasn’t about to dignify that other comment with a response. Dignity wasn’t his strong suit anyway; thinly veiled threats were. He made sure his homicidal urges leaked through into his tone and accordingly, Izumi backed off with wide eyes.

“I’m just tagging along with my beloved captain!” Izumi said. Kei knew that Izumi knew that flattery wouldn’t get him anywhere. Kei’s ego was big enough to tide itself over, no help from his peers necessary.

That maybe meant that Izumi actually meant it when he said that, and that,  _ possibly _ , was a little flattering. A genius scheme.

“Leave,” Kei said.

From beside Kei, Kako snorted and pushed him in the shoulder.

“No, don’t. I, for one, am enjoying your presence greatly,” she told Izumi with a wicked grin. Izumi grinned back, equally sly. Why was it that Kei only hung out with these types of people?

Kei thought, only a little snarky,  _ of course you’re enjoying this _ .

Ninomiya said, completely deadpan, “Of course you’re enjoying this,” from across the table. Kei had a newfound respect for Ninomiya. Maybe he could replace Izumi as shooter when Kei inevitably snapped and kicked him out of the unit. 

“He’s entertaining!” Kako protested, not sounding offended in the least. “Aren’t you entertained, Ninomiya?” She leaned over the table to prod Ninomiya in the forehead with her chopsticks, which he avoided deftly with a scowl.

“Forgive me for not being entertained by Tachikawa’s inane love life.”

Kei took it back. Ninomiya was never getting an invite into his unit. He could rot in the B-ranks for the rest of his life for all that Kei cared. With a huff, he said “The bad decisions I make are my business,” and levelled all three other people at the table with a glare for daring to have opinions on his romantic escapades.

It obviously didn’t have the desired effect, because Ninomiya was looking up from his food with vague disinterest and asking “What did you do this time, anyway?” It was almost impressive, how he managed to combine disengagement and nosiness.

Kei refused to answer. As it turned out, he didn’t need to, anyway.

“Did the nasty with Arashiyama,” said Izumi, at the same time Kako said “Enlisted Jin as a horizontal tango partner.” 

They stared at each other. 

They stared at Kei. 

Oh, Kei hated himself.

He put his head down on the table and made a non-committal whine. 

He hadn’t told anybody the full story yet. Hell, most of the information he had given on it had just been obnoxious comments and teases, and Izumi and Kako had just worked it out from there. He was of the opinion that nobody had any business knowing how messy this situation was, but now there were three people who knew.

“Oh my god,” Izumi said. He sounded delighted. Kei couldn’t believe he sounded delighted, except he could, which was somehow even more unbelievable.

“Wait,  _ really _ ?” Kako said.

Ninomiya didn’t say anything, but Kei didn’t want to look up and see his expression. It probably said far more than his words ever could.

Kei whined into the table again, which was answer enough. The other three were smart. They could figure it out on their own. 

He didn’t want to say the reality out loud, that after a party with far too much access to alcohol, Jin had valiantly volunteered to walk Arashiyama home and Kei, who was three-years deep into feelings for Jin and no stronger to Arashiyama’s charms than the general population of Mikado, had insisted that he join them. And that when they had reached Arashiyama’s apartment, Arashiyama was drunk and courteous enough to invite them inside to sober up a bit. And that when they were inside, the tension had been thick enough in the air to be sliced with a sword and well—Kei was number one attacker for a damn reason.

He had left that night with two memories burned into his mind: Jin leaving in the middle of the night, and waking up to an empty apartment. 

He whined again, wishing that the table would be a little sympathetic to his plight, because he knew he would be getting no such sympathy from his friends.

“Oh my god,” Izumi said again. He still sounded delighted.

Kei, half-heartedly because he knew a lost cause when he saw one, tried to change the subject. “Are we going to ignore that Kako and Izumi think that ‘doing the nasty’ and ‘horizontal tango’ are good ways of describing sex?”

Surprisingly, because he was always surprising Kei in that terrible, infuriating way teenagers with too much potential and energy did, Izumi went with it. “Should we have said ‘getting down and dirty’?” he enquired.

Kako chimed in. “Bumping bits?”

“Getting busy, banging... canoodling?”

“Fornicating, having intimate relations,”

“Ooh, wait, I have a good one, dicking do—”

Ninomiya cleared his throat.

Izumi shut his mouth with a definitive  _ clack  _ of his teeth, nodding slowly and having the decency to look somewhat ashamed. 

“Good call,” he said, after an extended silence. Kako snickered.

Ninomiya, sighing with the utmost patience and utmost fatigue, rolled his eyes. 

“You three fucked,” he said succinctly.

Kei, head still down on the table, nodded. It was pathetic. 

“Well said, Ninomiya,” Kako said, managing to make the compliment sound mocking.

Izumi said, obviously amused despite how he attempted to seem sympathetic, “And now we all have to deal with the emotionally constipated aftermath.”

“I’m not emotionally constipated,” Kei hissed, looking up. He  _ wasn’t _ . He prefered to forgo emotions altogether.

“In denial, then.” Kako chimed in. Kei felt particularly ganged up on, and it didn’t help that Ninomiya’s rather impressively intimidating gaze was fixed on him.

“Not that either. I am 100% aware of the situation and my feelings on the situation. I made the mistake of having a drunken one night stand with someone—two someones—who I have feelings for,” and he said  _ feelings  _ with venom, like anybody could believe that he was mundane enough to have those. “That’s it. Now, I withdraw and treat my wounds,”

Hearing him state it aloud, without any frills or hesitation, seemed to shock the rest of his listeners into silence. He smirked, because he didn’t know what they had expected. He wasn’t one to shy away from things, and he certainly wasn’t  _ in denial _ .

Kako, with a more thoughtful tone than Kei was comfortable with coming from her, said “Is that really it?”

Izumi nodded. “I’m not an expert on this—” and Kei got in a muttered  _ you’re seventeen _ before he was bulldozered by Izumi’s continuation, “—but I think you should at least talk to them. Or something.”

Kako and Ninomiya both nodded. Kei groaned.

“ _ I’ve tried _ ,” he hissed, because once again: shying away from things? Not in his rulebook. “Arashiyama has gone M.I.A and Jin— Jin… it didn’t go great.”

Talking to Arashiyama had been a dead end, and Kei wasn’t sure whether it made him feel better or worse that he’d also disappeared off the face of the planet. At least Kei wasn’t the only one getting the silent treatment but… that meant he wasn’t the only one getting the silent treatment.

And talking to Jin… Kei could only take the blame on that one.

He kept his gaze on the table, because he had the distinct feeling that the three pairs of eyes on him would be nothing but pitying.

A plate of the cafeteria’s most coveted chocolate cake slid into his view, and he looked up in shock to see Ninomiya with a pained expression.

“Take it,” Ninomiya gritted out. “You need it more than me.”

Kei wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, even if it seemed as unwilling as Ninomiya did, so he grinned and picked up his spoon.

Ninomiya rolled his eyes, and Kako and Izumi’s laughter filled the silence.

“Yeah, you’ll be fine,” Kako said dryly, flicking Kei in the ear.

  
  


**i have the shot** @no1sniper   
[OPEN ENQUIRY] report where you last saw our golden boy arashiyama its for a good cause ;)

**take it** @princeoujisama   
@no1sniper Why does this read like you want to get in his pants...

**i have the shot** @no1sniper   
@princeoujisama what am i gonna do? say no?

 

**take it** @princeoujisama   
[OPEN ENQUIRY] Hello everyone! Please report your latest sightings of Arashiyama Jun, and get a hug from me!

 

**dog shouter** @iksh   
[OPEN ENQUIRY] sup lads report your latest sightings of arashiyama jun for a hug from @kage_ura

 @kage_ura   
@iksh fuck off.

 

**arafune** @prfctallrounder   
[OPEN ENQUIRY] support our investigation and report where you last saw arashiyama jun. prizes on offer are hugs from @princeoujisama (for bad to average info) and hugs from @kage_ura (for really good info)

 @kage_ura   
@prfctallrounder fuck. off.

**take it** @princeoujisama   
@kage_ura @prfctallrounder ^^^

 

**[points 2 unit emblem] is this a pigeon?** @kako_noz   
Kids these days r wild haha

 @kage_ura   
@kako_noz you’re 2 years older than us you hag

**[points 2 unit emblem] is this a pigeon?** @kako_noz   
@kage_ura Im sensing some conflict of intent in this tweet

**dog shouter** @iksh   
@kage_ura @kako_noz aw kage <3 youre defending us <3 you DO love us

 @kage_ura   
@iksh @kako_noz fuck off

  
  


“Have you seen what the eighteen year olds are doing on twitter?” Kako said as they sat around the table for the A-Rank captain’s meeting. They were early, which was unprecedented for Kei  _ and _ Kako, but they had run into Kazama on the way and been glared into submission. There wasn’t even anybody else there yet, but they weren’t about to argue with Kazama.

In all honesty, Kei wasn’t entirely sure what the point of these meetings was, or what he was supposed to do in them, but the last time he had skipped they had sent Kizaki to hunt him down. 

_ Terrifying _ . 

Kei never felt so cowed than in the presence of the other, totally competent and well-adjusted man.

“Why would I care about what the eighteen year olds are doing on twitter,” Kei replied, even as he pulled his phone out. He was pretty sure he followed all of them, but there were  _ a lot _ and they all blurred into one after a while. He would just check Murakami’s account and be done with it.

“They’re conducting an investigation into Arashiyama’s disappearance,” Kako said, just as Murakami’s twitter account loaded and the offending tweets came into focus.

“It is strange,” Kazama joined in. He had been so silent the rest of the conversation that Kei almost—only almost—jumped. “He’s usually earlier to these than me.” 

The words communicated concern, and he had pulled out his phone to look as well, but Kazama was somehow still projecting total apathy. Kei wasn’t about to admit it, but it was enviable.

Kako snorted. “Bless his heart,” she said. “Half the time I don’t even show up,”

Kei looked up with offense in his gaze and hurt in his heart. “Don’t they send somebody to track you down?” he asked, unsure whether to be wounded or envious.

Kako shrugged. “Sending somebody, sure. Having them be successful is another matter altogether.”

“How are either of you two A-rank,” Kazama said. Kei could almost detect the hint of a smile. Almost. Maybe. Given some wishful thinking.

“We’re getting sidetracked,” Kako said with a huff, waving her phone in their faces. “I’m trying to share some fun news,”

This time, Kazama was definitely almost-somewhat-smiling. He caught Kei’s gaze, and the neutrality returned soon enough, but Kei had seen what he had seen. He grinned at Kazama. Kazama’s expression turned into a scowl.

Satisfied, Kei returned to his phone. 

“Wow,” he said, genuinely impressed. He got impressed over a lot of unconventional things, and a full-on twitter campaign to find a missing Border member definitely fit under that category. “They got a hashtag trending,”

“The youth are amazing, aren’t they?” Kako grinned.

“Stop calling them that,” Kei replied, eyes still on his phone. “You make us sound so old.” 

Kazama chimed in with a bored “Why are they acting like this has official basis in Border?”

“Since when has official basis in Border meant anything?” Kako replied dryly, eliciting amused huffs out of both Kazama and Kei. Preaching to the choir, she was; the two of them had been part of an official Border task force sent to steal from and possibly take out a fifteen year old. 

Official Border basis was a questionable concept at best.

“Oh,” Kazama commented as he tapped at his phone. “They released a list of suspects.”

Kei and Kako were instantly riveted to their phones again.

 

**arafune** @prfctallrounder   
[OPEN ENQUIRY] based on the information we have received, we have made a list of suspects

**arafune** @prfctallrounder   
@prfctallrounder   
1\. jin yuuichi @talentedelite - was last seen with arashiyama   
2\. kitora ai @kitorai - has shown prior willingness to murder unit members   
3\. touma isami @no1sniper - wants 2 get into arashiyama’s pants   
4\. tachikawa kei @mochikawa - just a generally suspicious person

 

Kako was outright laughing. Kazama looked the closest to experiencing genuine hilarity that Kei had ever seen him.

Kei couldn’t believe this.

“I can’t believe this,” he said.

Kako was still laughing. Kazama was actually smiling now.

Kei couldn’t fucking believe this.

“I’m being accused,” he said. “Insulted. Having dirt kicked on my good name. Being put into  _ disrepute _ .”

Kazama said “I didn’t know you knew what disrepute meant,” now unsuccessfully trying to hide his smile.

“I didn’t know you knew how to smile,” Kei shot back, but he was maybe smiling too. This was just so ridiculous. It was so fucking ridiculous, and Kei—Kei loved some ridiculousness.

Kako, through wheezes, said “The best part—the  _ best part _ , is that sans Kitora, everybody on that list wants to get into Arashiyama’s pants. Not just Touma. Oh, this is the best day of my life.”

It was a in true stroke of foolishness, and Kei had those  _ a lot _ but never so, very,  _ truly _ foolish, that he decided to reply with “Don’t lump me and Jin in with Touma. At least we’ve been there.” 

Kazama’s gaze was on him in an instant. 

For the first time in the conversation, a terrifying first time, he looked engaged in the topic of discussion.

“You  _ what _ ,” he said slowly.

“You’ve done it now,” Kako said, as if Kei needed to have that pointed out. Kei was not an easily frightened man, but the way Kazama’s dead eyes were staring into him was truly, genuinely horrifying.

Still, Kei held his gaze. He was Tachikawa Kei and he would not be cowed by this, of all things.

“Tachikawa,” Kazama said. Measured and calm.

“Kazama,” Kei replied. Less measured and calm, but trying.

Kazama asked “When have either you or Jin ‘ _ been there’ _ ,”. In a sentence of eight words, he managed to combine infinite patience and total threat.

Kei decided, like he decided in many situations, to go with the most direct route. “Me?” he said. “Two days ago.” He watched the disbelief flicker over Kazama’s features, and then hit it home with: “Jin? Also two days ago.”

It took Kazama about two seconds to put the two pieces of information together; two seconds in which Kei, much like how he imagined lying on his deathbed would be, experienced a continuous series of flashbacks. Except, instead of it being a recap of his entire life, the only things that flashed before his eyes were the memories of every time he and Kazama had gone out drinking together and he had ended up spilling his ugly, gay, pining guts to Kazama’s unsympathetic ear.

And then when Kazama did put it together, instead of finally showing drastic emotion like Kei had hoped he would, his face was perfectly blank.

“You both…” he started. He did not continue.

Kako, picking the most inappropriate timing as usual, inserted herself into the conversation again with “And Arashiyama.”

Kazama gave Kako a dark look. He managed to fit the wrath of humankind into it, but he still conceded and added through clenched teeth “And Arashiyama.”

All Kei could do was nod and say “Me, Jin and Arashiyama.”

Kako was nodding as well, the expression on her face promising trouble. It was essentially her normal expression.

“Tachikawa, Jin and Arashiyama,” she added with gravity. “Arashiyama, Tachikawa and Jin. Jin, Arashiyama and Tachikawa. Arashiy—”

“You don’t need to keep saying it,” Kei said at the same time that Kazama snapped “We get it.”

Kako grinned, “Just making sure we're all on the same page.” Kei might hate her.

He was afraid to make eye contact with Kazama, so he settled for staring at the door. Kazama was obviously unwilling to contribute to the conversation, although it was also obvious that he was very willing for it to continue. Kako wasn’t going to do anything but be provocative, which required having somebody to provoke, so the burden of discussion fell upon Kei. It was a burden he refused to bear, so he willed his thoughts towards topics that  _ weren’t _ his disastrous love life.

That was how he realized, staring at the door and determinedly trying not to think about Arashiyama or Jin, that they were alone. The three of them had been alone for quite some time now.

“Hey,” he said, breaking the uneven silence. Both pairs of eyes immediately snapped towards him, but he went with it and waved at the empty room around them. “Where the hell is everyone?”

Kazama, sufficiently distracted, frowned and glanced up at the clock. It was about fifteen minutes past the broadcasted start of the meeting, which was usually the cutoff time for Kei to swan in to a room full of people waiting to judge him. Kako was confused too, since she had opened up the calendar on her phone to double check the meeting time.

Kei, without anything truly useful to do, decided to take a more unconventional avenue.

 

**border's top bitch** @mochikawa   
a-rank captain’s meeting seems a little empty today~ am i missing the party

 

It took about thirty seconds, which truly spoke volumes about the productivity of the members of Border at any given moment, for him to get a reply.

 

**Fuyushima** @shinji_fuyushima   
@mochikawa It got cancelled… Do you ever check your emails…

**tsuji** @tsushin   
@shinji_fuyushima @mochikawa so this is our a-rank #1.

**dog shouter** @iksh   
@tsushin @shinji_fuyushima @mochikawa lol just watched ninomiya tell tsuji to tweet this bc in his words “its below me to engage in twitter fights”

**border's top bitch** @mochikawa   
@iksh @tsushin @shinji_fuyushima inukai (⌒ω⌒) could you kindly tell ninomiya to fuck off

**dog shouter** @iksh   
@mochikawa @tsushin @shinji_fuyushima he says no thank you

 

Turning his phone off with a scowl—god, sometimes Kei missed the decisiveness of snapping a flip phone shut—he said “Meeting’s been cancelled.”

Kazama nodded, sitting back in his chair a little while frowning at his phone. “Yeah, I just saw the email,”

“Awfully late notice,” Kako commented. “It was only sent twenty five minutes ago.”

Kei, who was already daydreaming about the extra practice he could get in with all this time that had just been freed up, tuned out. 

He shouldn’t have. It would’ve prepared him, at least a little, for when he received a text from Director Shinoda.

**[13:17] ＼(＾▽＾)／ Shinoda-san (╯✧▽✧)╯** ****  
Be at my HQ office in five minutes, please.   
Do not be late.

 

 **[FLAGGED AS IMPORTANT] Captain Meeting has been cancelled today.**  
[upper.management@border.jp](mailto:upper.management@border.jp)

Hello everybody,

The A-Rank Captain’s Meeting scheduled for 1600 today has been cancelled due to several captains being unavailable without or with little notice. 

This is not acceptable behaviour from our highest ranking captains, and we will be following up on all of the absences today. Please keep an eye out for more updates, as you may be called in because of this.

Thank you,   
Border’s Upper Management

_ Sent from my Iphone _

 

“Who the hell in the management has an Iphone?” Kako asked, just as Kei jolted out of his reverie in a combination of surprise, fear and dread.

Mostly subconsciously, he replied “Director Shinoda has one,”. His actual conscious was too preoccupied being mildly terrified, and he was  _ tired _ of being scared but it just kept happening, of the ominous text sitting in his inbox.

“Oh,” Kako said, then leaning over to look at what Kei was staring down at on his phone screen. “ _ Oh _ ,” she said again, except this time it sounded a little like a death sentence. 

“What is it,” Kazama said, in a tone of voice that communicated that he didn’t think anything else today could phase him. Wordlessly, Kei showed him the text.

Kazama read it, and said, “Oh.”

Kei took back his phone and stood up. “I’m gonna… go,” he said. Kako and Kazama were both staring at him, but he was resolutely pretending that everything was fine, and acknowledging their grave stares meant acknowledging that everything wasn’t.

“Godspeed,” Kako said. “I’ll serve mochi at your funeral.”

“Kako Nozomi,” Kei stated. “You are the only true friend I have.”

“I don’t want that title, but thank you,” she replied, but Kei was already marching out of the room, out of earshot, and towards his doom.

  
  


**[points 2 unit emblem] is this a pigeon?** @kako_noz   
Death count for today about to rise to four

**‘zaki** @kakizakikuniharu   
@kako_noz four?!?

**[points 2 unit emblem] is this a pigeon?** @kako_noz   
@kakizakikuniharu Yeah four: 1 Arashiyama, 2 Satori, 3&4 Tachikawa and his dignity

**hokari** @prfctsniper   
@kako_noz @prfctallrounder death of a suspect…

**arafune** @prfctallrounder   
@prfctsniper @kako_noz the mystery continues

**[points 2 unit emblem] is this a pigeon?** @kako_noz   
@prfctallrounder @prfctsniper Wait I just realized hokari’s @ is @no1sniper gonna take that lying down?

**i have the shot** @no1sniper   
@kako_noz @prfctallrounder @prfctsniper my @ is literally number 1 sniper why would i care

 

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
so mny ppl in my lyf dyn 2dy………….. F

**kunichikachika** @alreadytracer   
@izmikhei f

**karasuma** @torimaru   
@izmikhei f

**sasamori!!!** @narusasuisreal   
@izmikhei f

**it’s delicate** @riptidemp3   
@izmikehi f

 

**rich, little bit of a bitch** @kikucchi   
does nobody in this place actually do work

**utagawa** @utagavva   
@kikucchi you’re on twitter too?

  
  


Kei stepped into the familiar surroundings of Shinoda’s office. 

At some base level, this place would always comfort him. He had spent so much time in it when he was younger that it felt like a second operations room by now. 

At another, totally different base level, Shinoda would always scare him just a little. He was Kei’s beloved mentor, and Kei had watched him climb on top of a car once to get a better view of a battlefield, but he was still about three times the man Kei would ever be. Which Kei wasn’t mad about. It was Shinoda, after all.

Currently, these feelings were strong at war with each other as he shifted on the spot in the doorway.

Shinoda, noticing his entry, looked up from his papers and smiled at him. It lulled Kei into a brief sense of security, which was, admittedly, a rookie mistake on his part. This sense was quickly dashed when Shinoda’s expression turned serious, and then he was motioning to the chair in front of him.

Kei, characteristic of him several years ago and characteristic of him now, threw himself into the chair with ungainly grace.

“Kei,” Shinoda said with patience. Kei didn’t think he had done anything to warrant Shinoda’s patience, but he supposed that that meant little in the grand scheme of things. Kei in general required a fair bit of patience to deal with.

“Yeah, Shinoda-san?” Kei replied.

Shinoda sighed. Bad sign, but Kei kept his expression blank. “You don’t happen to know where Jun is, do you?” 

Kei hated to disappoint, but at least Shinoda sounded like he knew the answer to the question already.

Kei shook his head. It seemed that he couldn’t escape this topic no matter how hard he tried. Still, he was Shinoda’s disciple, and so was Arashiyama; at least it made sense that Shinoda would ask him. It was a step above gossipy friends, and Kei ranked his gossipy friends pretty highly.

He said “I haven’t seen or heard from him at all today,”

Shinoda leaned back in his seat, nodding with a concerned look on his face. “I’d assumed so,” he said with a frown. “Nobody else has heard from him either.”

Kei had to admit that the feeling that had been plaguing him for the day was far past  _ a feeling _ now; it had grown into full blown anxiety, the kind that Kei didn’t know what to do with except resolutely avoid.

It was apparently that Shinoda didn’t know what to do with it either; he had that  _ severe _ severe look on his face when he was puzzling out a particularly difficult situation. 

And it was: a tricky situation. This behaviour from another agent might’ve been less strange, but it was unheard of from Arashiyama. Kei didn’t think that warranted any actual search efforts or mobilization yet, and Shinoda was probably thinking along the same lines, but it still felt wrong.

And because he spent years being taught under Shinoda’s careful guidance, Kei came to the same conclusion about the situation that Shinoda did. When Shinoda started saying “Kei, could you—” Kei was already cutting in with “I’ll look for him.”

Shinoda gave him a proud, appraising look, and Kei felt himself preening under the attention.

“Very well,” Shinoda said with a nod. “Good luck, Kei.”

Kei stood up from the chair, stretching his arms out and giving his mentor a blasé grin. “Don’t worry, Shinoda-san,” he said, and then added before he could really think about it: “He’s in good hands.” 

Kei turned away just in time to hide the wince he gave right after saying that from Shinoda, because he didn’t need his mentor prying into the tatters of his romantic life as well. 

Shinoda probably noticed anyway, because he was exceptionally observant, but if he did he took mercy on Kei and didn’t say anything.

Kei left the office with a short bow and a wave, not mentioning the amused smile that followed him out. He already knew he was the favourite. 

When he turned around, he almost missed the presence walking into him. When he did notice, it was too late to avoid the person, but he managed to sidestep them a little. They ended up stumbling as they maneuvered around each other, legs getting vaguely tangled and tripping them both up. 

Before Kei could really think about the consequences of his actions, he shot out a hand to grab the person’s shoulder before they could fall, his other hand fisting in their shirt.

The position they ended up in, Kei leaning slightly over the other person and them only kept upright by his grip, was the closest Kei had ever come to pulling off a dance dip. 

He was almost proud of himself, when the moment was ruined by Kei realizing that the grinning face of his partner-slash-accidental-bystander was Jin’s. 

For them to end up in this position, with that look on Jin’s face, it could only have been an orchestrated move. 

Kei promptly tried to drop him. 

Jin obviously saw it coming, and avoided landing on the ground by bracing himself and pushing back into an upright position.

And then they were staring at each other. 

Despite how much of a trainwreck their last interaction had been, Kei was still fighting the urge to smile. Jin wasn’t even bothering to fight it. Kei couldn’t remember the last time he and Jin had actually argued for real, so he wasn’t sure how they were supposed to proceed after this. 

The future, as always for him, was uncharted.

Kei decided to go with the unprecedented. He said “Look,”, grinding the word out through his teeth, “sorry abou—” and was cut off by Jin going “I know. I am too.”

And while it was unprecedented for  _ one _ of them to apologize, both of them doing it was just short of a miracle. Kei narrowed his eyes. 

“You timed that on purpose,” he accused.

Jin gave him the barest of a smile, but Kei could read the sneakiness underneath. It made his gut churn in all the worst ways, because Jin had never had anything but the worst effect on Kei. Still, he was grinning.

“You’re looking for Arashiyama, right?” Jin asked.

Kei, cocking his head and giving Jin his most patented greasy smile, said “And you know where he is, right?”

Jin rose to the occasion and smiled back, just as terrible, no-good, and awfully handsome. “Aren’t you lucky, you have me to guide you!” he said, clapping his hands together.

“I don’t need it,” Kei shot back, but he still looked behind him when he started walking off to make sure Jin was following.

And he was. 

Sometimes it felt like Jin was walking a different path from Kei altogether, so it was a strange sight, but not entirely unwelcome. Despite his bluffing, Kei had no idea where he was going, so he walked slow enough to let Jin catch up, and neither of them mentioned it when their steps fell into line. 

Jin took a turn towards the exit, so Kei stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed.

It was easy sync between them, despite it all. Kei welcomed it. Kei wouldn’t fuck it up this time. If they were both perfectly happy to continue on as if nothing had happened and leave it all in the past, which Kei was—Jin was never not pretending that everything was okay anyway—then there was nothing left to say.

So when Jin started, more casual than he actually was, with “So, about—” Kei wasn’t having it.

“No,”

“No?”

“No.”

Jin laughed. “Goodness,” he said, in that annoying judgmental tone he used when he really wanted to get under Kei’s skin. “We’ll never get anywhere at this rate.”

That tone had a 100% success rate. Kei, accordingly, was irritated. “Pretty rich coming from you,” he sniped back, because if anybody was more at fault for being cryptic and avoidant of the elephant in the room, it was Jin. “You’re always in your own head.”

Jin, instead of biting back, or doing that irritating-every-time tactic of slyly changing the topic and distracting Kei with how irritated he was, just hummed.

“You might have a point,” he said, taking top spot for most disconcerting thing that Kei had heard today, a pretty intensely contested title. “It’s not easy to get me out of there.”

And Kei felt it again, that same swirling, biting anxiety, except it felt a little more like he was going along a thin ledge this time, instead of being thrown off the cliff completely. It was something, at least. It was something.

He said, with more grace than he had expected from himself, “Arashiyama can do it.”

Jin huffed. “Arashiyama can do anything,” and Kei felt the fondness spike within him. It was a ridiculous level of masochistic for him to enjoy watching Jin fall in love with somebody else, but this was a side of Jin that Kei could never access. A softness, a tenderness, almost entirely absent from how Kei-and-Jin operated. To be privy to it was enough.

Then Jin slowed his steps, and Kei felt himself instinctively follow, keeping pace easily. Jin, effortlessly, like it meant  _ nothing _ , turned that smile on Kei in all its gentle, blinding, annoying brilliance and said “You can do it too, you know. Not with much finesse, but I suppose it works.”

Kei, like he rarely ever was, was struck still. 

Jin had a strange expression on his face. There was a light in his eyes, his mouth was twisted into a smile; smiling was an action characterized by happiness, but Kei swore that this was three parts fear, one part affection. The two of them stood in the middle of an empty hallway in Border and Kei had never, ever, felt such stillness in his life.

And as he stared at Jin, Kei swore—and he hated himself for thinking it—that Jin looked like the future. 

Kei stared into the future.

Kei realized that the swirling, howling beast of a feeling that had been plaguing him all day, the anxiety and anticipation and nausea and adrenaline, was love. He was in love.

“Jin,” he said. He stopped. He continued “What...” and then he did not say anything else. He wanted to say something else. He wanted to continue, but he could not summon any words as he stood and stared, stared and stared. 

Jin’s expression was mixed, as exquisite as a stain glass shadow, light and colour and depth all blended together as he stared at Kei. 

Jin said “I don’t know,”

Kei didn’t know either. Kei had no idea. Kei wanted to say something, because the feeling inside him was surging and pushing and aching and he needed to say it,  _ something _ , anything. But he didn’t. Jin was the most infuriating, dumbfounding and smothering thing Kei had ever come into contact with and Kei couldn’t speak, not like this.

His only consolation was that Jin was silent too. They were at an impasse, a deadlock, a pointless ceasefire because they could fire at each other endlessly but never say the right things.

And then Jin, because he loved to prove Kei wrong, because he was better with words than anybody Kei knew, said the right thing. 

“We should find Arashiyama.”

Kei nodded. 

They should find Arashiyama. It was the smartest idea that either of them had had since this whole, ugly situation had begun to unravel.

“Lead the way,” he said, and it wasn’t anything close to what he wanted to say but it was a start.

They walked together. It was a meaningless, or close enough, gesture, but Kei still felt the thrum of battle rush through him. Except it wasn’t the thrum of battle, it was the thrum of love-kinda-feelings, which just felt close to battle. Which, was probably concerning, but Kei’s heart, despite rumours of its nonexistence, was large enough to fit Jin and sword-fighting and another person who Kei didn’t want to name because it was already overwhelming enough to admit affection for one person, much less two. 

As they walked, Kei, man of action, man of want, decided to do something. Say something. He opened his mouth. He said, “Where is Arashiyama?”

It was not what he meant to say.

Jin, next to Kei, inclined his head in some vague direction. “At home, I think,” he said, musing and knowing. “In his room.”

“Not dead?” Kei teased. He didn’t know how Jin managed to goad out all the worst parts of him, except he did know. It was just how he and Jin were.

Jin grinned. “You think I would let him die?” he replied, managing to sound lighthearted and gravely serious at the same time. 

Honestly, Kei would never dream it. Jin Yuuichi was horrifically trustable, utterly reliable, especially when it came to Arashiyama.

So Kei grinned back as well, something wicked and serious at the same time, and said “I would kill you if you did.”

Jin laughed, the beat of competition steady in his voice, and together they pushed out into the light of day. The way ahead was long, and Kei had no idea where it lead; only Jin knew, but Kei was willing enough to follow for now. There was always time to shake it up a little later.

“Let’s go find our sleeping beauty.” 

Kei wasn’t sure how to feel about this line nicknames, but they  _ did  _ fit. His main concern was the way they made his heart cower and twist; then again, that was his standard reaction to Arashiyama and all related topics.

Then, he realized what Jin had said. “Wait, sleeping?”

  
  


**arafune** @prfctallrounder   
just got added 2 a gc with arashiyama’s little brother and sister (???)…

**dog shouter** @iksh   
@prfctallrounder OMG ACCEPT

 

**arafune** @prfctallrounder

[IMG]

> **a. saho** @softballstar:  
>  My big brother is currently asleep in our study because he hasn’t slept for like two days and we’ve been waiting for when he would finally pass out and didn’t want to wake him up so can you all please stop being fucking weird
> 
> **fufufu** @korokorokoro:  
>  i am so sorry about her  
>  but.. yeah… please stop being weird
> 
>  

**Satori Ken** @twinsniper   
The 18 y/os just got schooled by a 12 year old can i BREATHE

 

**rich, little bit of a bitch** @kikkuchi   
imagine being told by an 8th grader… 

**dog shouter** @iksh   
@kikkuchi kazama unit can relate every time they’re told off by their cptn

**nire~!** @nireisalwaysrestless   
@iksh @kikkuchi HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

 

**take it** @princeoujisama   
This bitch has a death wish…

> **dog shouter** @iksh  
>  @kikkuchi kazama unit can relate every time they’re told off by their cptn

 

**i have the shot** @no1sniper   
im hosting inukai’s funeral guys its an open bar lets get fucked up on this #2 arank unit salary

 

 **k**. @kazama  
..?

 

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
INUKAI-SENPAI RLY DID IT THS TYM LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

 

**karasuma** @torimaru   
F…………………

 

**Ninomiya** @greyhounds   
Now taking applications for my unit’s new gunner.

**[points 2 unit emblem] is this a pigeon?** @kako_noz   
@greyhounds THIS IS YOUR FIRST TWEET SINCE 2016?

**nire~!** @nireisalwaysrestless   
@kako_noz @greyhounds H E L P

  
  


The walk there wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable either. Kei felt like everything in his room had shifted slightly; it was familiar, supposed to be familiar, but he found himself tripping up every few steps. 

Kei had never been to Arashiyama’s house before, though Jin evidently had. He lead the way with quiet, assured steps, and for once, Kei was content to follow.

Arashiyama’s neighbourhood was nice. Quiet, as peaceful as it could get in Mikado, and it was almost a wonder that an area so nice could exist so near the danger zone. It placed Arashiyama close to work, and close to his family, but Kei couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t move further away.

Still, it brought the immediate problem to his attention, with every step closer that they drew.

“So we’re just showing up at his doorstep?” Kei asked, taking a few longer steps to catch up with Jin. 

Jin, with eyebrows raised and the border of a smile on his face, asked “Do you have any plans?”

Half serious, half joking, Kei suggested “I’ve always wanted to throw rocks at somebody’s window.” He knew which half he wanted Jin to side with, but with the look on Jin’s face, it was unlikely.

Jin smiled properly this time, but it was clearly insincere. Reaching over to pat Kei on the shoulder, he said “You can do that,” with the feigned patience of a mother talking to her child in his voice. “I promise to attend your court date when you get arrested.”

As Kei expected.

“Jin,” he replied, the same kind of honeyed poison smile on his face. “It’s cute that you think I wouldn’t implicate you in the crime as well.”

Jin raised his eyebrows, and it took Kei around five seconds to go over what he said and feel the mortal embarrassment overtake him at once. Regardless of whatever love-flavoured feelings he actually had for Jin, it was a brutal hit to him and his ego to be caught  _ flirting _ .

His expression didn’t change though; Kei was a professional, after all.

“Cute,” was all Jin said, a considering and amused smile on his face. Kei forgot all of his bravery and blustering and brashness in the face of that look, and he turned away, eyes towards the sky and face battling in vain to keep the smile at bay.

Kei found that he couldn’t quite look at Jin directly for the rest of the walk, because the sun was getting lower in the sky, and everything was gold and warm. It was the kind of atmosphere that played tricks on the eyes, which was why Kei swore he could see a content smile on Jin’s face when he sneaked looks at him. 

It was rare for Kei to ever see that kind of expression on Jin, and it made him feel his age, younger than that, palms sweaty and all his confidence misplaced in the face of the person he might just like.

At least Jin couldn’t look at him either; in the brief instances their eyes met, Jin would always be the one to skid his gaze away first. Flighty: it was a strange word to pair with Jin, but it was undeniably the right one.

They were silent all the way up to Arashiyama’s doorstep. When they reach their destination, Kei looked at Jin, and Jin looked at Kei. They traded a look, and Kei felt like this moment would change everything. 

Jin stepped forward and knocked on the door.

There was a brief wait, then the door swung open. A young girl was standing in the doorway, arms crossed and eyes narrowed as she took in the two visitors. Kei had forgotten that Arashiyama had younger siblings.

“Ah, Jin-san. Hello,” she said shortly. The curt tone of voice coming from somebody who looked so much like Arashiyama was borderline shocking. 

Jin smiled at her, something a few degrees warmer than most of his smiles ran, and said “Hello, Saho. This is Tachikawa Kei. 

Saho turned her sharp gaze on Kei, not bothering to hide that she was assessing him. Kei was notoriously bad with children, and it was like Saho could sense it; she pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes even further, a bad sign by all means.

Then, she flicked her gaze back to Jin, who was either smiling or grimacing, Kei couldn’t quite tell, and seemed to come to a conclusion.

Uncrossing her arms, she sighed “Nice to meet you, Tachikawa-san. I think Aniki is awake, you can just go up to his room,”

She stepped back from the doorway and Jin looked over at Kei, just briefly, before stepping inside. Kei, with nowhere else to go, followed.

Saho closed the door, bowed to the two of them, and then went off in the direction of what Kei imagined was a living room. 

Jin nodded towards the stairs, and they fell into step again. 

Jin was smiling, Kei realized, a small little smirk that he probably didn’t even realize was there.

“That was… something,” Kei started, eyebrows raised.

Jin turned to him and laughed, his smirk widening into a proper smile. “She’s a cute kid,” Jin said, sounding surprisingly fond. Kei was reminded of just how close Jin and Arashiyama were, and he found himself feeling left out without one of the perpetrators even present—though, he was probably within 5 metres. It might count. Anything to give Kei a reasonable excuse for the displacement he suddenly felt.

Then, Jin said “I think you’ll get along. She seemed to like you.”

Kei, taken aback and maybe slightly touched, said “Was that supposed to be liking me?”

Jin grinned. “Saho isn’t very good at being true to her feelings. Like I said, you’ll get along.”

Kei said “Wow, okay, coming from you,” and like that, the switch was flicked. The wall that stood between him and Arashiyama-and-Jin crumbled, replaced by a door. Kei was daunted by little, and he’d never be daunted by Jin, no matter what obstacles he presented. 

Jin came to a halt in front of a closed door with nothing on it except a picture of a dog; Kei assumed it was Arashiyama’s dog Koro, which also lead him to assume that this was Arashiyama’s room. 

It wasn’t only the picture, there were several other factors in this conclusion as well. First, that Jin had stopped in front of it. Second, the soft sound of talking coming from inside that sounded vaguely like Arashiyama, and third, the responding whines and barks from a dog also coming from inside.

Kei looked at Jin. 

He had a strange set to his face; it was the sharpness he got when he was deep into the future. It didn’t look like he was going to make a move any time soon; his gaze was distant and unreadable, everything Kei hated for Jin to be.

With a shake of his head, Kei pulled Jin back into the present, and poked him in the ear. In the same movement, he brought his other hand up, and knocked on the door.

There was a brief pause, then “Come in!”

Arashiyama probably assumed it was one of his siblings. Kei felt a little deceptive, but to say something to warn Arashiyama was far too much for him to accomplish on his own, and Jin didn’t look like he’d be much help either, with the way his eyes were wide.

The chances of Arashiyama finding out it was the two of them and turning them away before they could even see him weren’t zero, and therefore weren’t chances that Kei was willing to gamble on. He took in a deep breath.

He pushed open the door, and saw something he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Arashiyama was sitting on his bed with his blanket around his shoulders and over some of his head. In his lap was Koro, who looked like he was in the closest thing to dog heaven on earth as Arashiyama cooed at and played with him. Arashiyama’s fringe was down, and he frankly looked like shit; eyebags and pale skin and slumped shoulders, but he was grinning down at Koro, and Kei, who had only just come to terms with the fact he may have love-shaped emotions for Jin, was in love.

Arashiyama looked up, and his face froze. Only for the briefest of moments, and it was like a shadow passing over the water, the smooth way Arashiyama pulled himself together. His shoulders straightened, the blanket falling away, his hand stilling on Koro’s belly, his expression changing. He was still smiling, and it was still genuine, but it was… less effortless, like it once had been.

“Jin and Tachikawa,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting you,”

It was a mild way to put  _ what the fuck are you doing here _ . Kei admired Arashiyama’s discipline.

“Saho let us in,” Jin said, which apparently communicated leagues to Arashiyama, with the way his expression shifted. Kei had no idea what was going on, but it didn’t bother him as much.

Arashiyama looked over at Kei, his smile softening. “Congratulations,” he told Kei. “Saho isn’t easy to please.”

Kei smiled back, entirely absent of the usual edges it contained, because he couldn’t really bear to be sharp around Arashiyama. “I didn’t do anything, but I’ll take it.”

Arashiyama laughed, and he looked nineteen all over, tired and burning and alive. 

With a snort that was both above it all and childish, Jin said “She didn’t even warm up to me that quickly.”

Just shy of sly, Arashiyama replied “You’re an acquired taste,”

Jin narrowed his eyes. “And he isn’t?”. Still, he was grinning. So was Arashiyama. 

So was Kei.

_ Oh my god _ , he realized.  _ We’re in love _ . 

It had probably been a little obvious this entire time.

Kei felt Arashiyama and Jin’s gazes on him, like they could sense he was gearing up to change it all. So he gathered up all of his carelessness and bravery and combined them, mixing molotovs like the best of them. It was fine.

Kei wasn’t a loser. Kei wasn’t going to lose this.

He said, “We need to have a talk,”

It was silent. Then, Jin, the absolute jackass, laughed.

“Oh my god,” he said between snorts, “did you really just say  _ we need to talk _ ?”

Arashiyama was very valiantly, and very unsuccessfully, trying to fight off a smile. Jin had dissolved into proper laughter now. Arashiyama put a hand over his mouth. Kei couldn’t stand either of them.

“I can’t stand either of you,” he said, crossing his arms.

Arashiyama, smiling properly this time, said “I’m sure you can’t,” in a patient yet teasing tone of voice that he could’ve only picked up from Jin. From the way Jin’s laughter cracked, he realized it too.

Then, it quietened down, the way it did just before a storm.

Arashiyama, his voice steady, said “What did you want to talk about?” as if all of them didn’t know.

Because Kei had never claimed to be a wordsmith, or even vaguely tactful, the first thing that he said in the wake of that calm was “We fucked,”

Arashiyama’s expression was almost affronted after hearing that. Kei became immediately and intimately acquainted with the feeling of dread.

“Hey,” Arashiyama protested with a frown. “Koro is right here,”

Kei blinked. He took a moment to take in everything about the moment; how Arashiyama’s words were a) absolutely not what Kei had expected him to say, b) absolutely ridiculous, and c) so totally in character for him that Kei felt the fondness hit him all at once.

Arashiyama was ridiculous. Shit, Kei loved him.

Jin, snickering in the background, said “Keep it PG-13, Tachikawa. Think of the dog,”

“I’m serious!” Arashiyama said. Was he? Was he actually? His tone was light, and he was smiling, but also, it was Koro they were talking about. Could Kei really be sure?

“Okay,” Kei conceded, because that issue could be dealt with later. “We did it. And I kind of feel like it was a mistake, but I don’t want it to be,”. 

And he didn’t. He would really like for Arashiyama and Jin to not be another notch in his ever growing list of bad mistakes. “I really don’t want it to be. I want…”

_ You _ , Kei thought, and did not say. 

He didn’t look at Jin. He didn’t look at Arashiyama.

Arashiyama asked “Kei, are you confessing to us?”

Somehow, it was the perfect mix of careful, of teasing, of lighthearted, to give Kei the confidence to look up and say “I mean… yeah,”

“Really?” Jin chimed in. “That sounded more like a proposition to me.”

“Yuuichi,” Arashiyama said, nothing but lovely, “shut the hell up.”

Jin nodded, and with a mock salute, said “Yessir.”

Kei was trying, he really was, to be serious, but he could feel the stupid grin start to spread across his face. “Look,” he said, trying to keep the humour out of his voice. “I want it. All that… lovey-dovey stuff with you. Both of you, unfortunately,”

There was a contemplative silence after that. Kei had had enough of speaking about his feelings for the next fifteen years.

Then, Jin said, a tiny smile on his face: “Jun, dearest, are we both really considering being in a relationship with somebody who just described dating as ‘lovey-dovey stuff’?”

Kei felt the weight of fear lift off of his heart, felt it desert him completely.

“Why Jin,” Arashiyama replied, “I believe we are.”

“How unfortunate,” Jin commented. “The world is truly a strange place,”

Arashiyama looked like he was about to agree, so Kei decided to cut this off before the heat in his cheeks could set him on fire.

“I’m standing  _ right here _ ,” he snapped, only barely managing to sound even a little mad. 

The weight of Arashiyama and Jin’s gazes turned on him was a little overwhelming, but he bore it with dignity and class. He was still blushing but, some things couldn’t be helped. Jin gently bumped his shoulder.

“This is so fucked up,” Jin said, sounding pleased about it. Of course he would. 

Kei scoffed and retorted “You’re so fucked up,” as if he wasn’t so desperate to kiss Jin that he was almost vibrating out of his skin. 

“I’m feeling kind of left out,” Arashiyama said, halfway to coy. 

Kei and Jin turned to him, a synced movement that was both predatorial and deferential.

Kei cocked a smile and teased “What, do you want to be called fucked up as well?”

Arashiyama raised his eyebrows, but he was smiling. It sent sparks running all the way down Kei’s spine, setting him on fire.

“I know what you want me to respond to that, and I’m not going to.”

“Jun,” Jin said with a shake of the head, “You can’t waste a set-up like that.”

Arashiyama rolled his eyes and muttered “You’re both so corny,”. Then, he shrugged the blanket off of his shoulders and let Koro jump off his lap, leaving him free to stand up. When he drew himself up, all he did was put his hands on his hips and tilt his head at Kei and Jin.

They both stepped forward at the same time, and then turned to glare at each other.

Arashiyama laughed, rolling his eyes again. “The two of you are idiots. Come here.”

He moved forward and first stepped to Jin, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, and then shifting to Kei and doing the same. Kei was so flustered from that one action that it was genuinely embarrassing—he had  _ slept _ with Arashiyama, a kiss on the cheek shouldn’t set him off like a blushing maiden.

Beside him, Jin looked equally as compromised. Arashiyama was deadly. He was smiling like he knew it, too.

Before anything else could happen, there was a knock on the door.

“Jun-niisan,” a voice called from outside. It wasn’t. “Saho says you can have your phone back now.”

Jin looked at Arashiyama with a grin on his face. “She confiscated your phone?”

Arashiyama, his smile uncontrollably fond, nodded. “Isn’t she the best?”

Kei snorted, but didn’t comment. Arashiyama made his way to the door, opening it to reveal who Kei had to assume was his little brother. He held out Arashiyama’s phone and grimaced, but bore it bravely, when his older brother ruffled his hair in response.

“Thank you, Fuku,” Arashiyama said with a softer smile than Kei had ever seen on his face. Fuku blushed and bowed his head towards Kei and Jin, pushing off Arashiyama’s hand with a groan, and then made his escape.

Arashiyama made his triumphant return with his phone in hand, and Kei suddenly and vividly remembered everything that had transpired online while he was gone.

“Arashiyama,” he began. “Don’t check Twitter.”

Arashiyama blinked. “Why not?”

“Just trust me. Don’t do it,” Kei replied, gravely serious. Arashiyama met his gaze with a serious look of his own, and Kei was convinced that he would do as he said, when Arashiyama then grinned.

“Sorry, Kei,” he sung, unlocking his phone. “I’m too curious now,”

Desperate, Kei turned to Jin. “Back me up here,” Kei said, because he had had enough of embarrassment for one day.

Jin considered it. Kei, the fool he was, was convinced by this too—maybe Jin would take mercy for once—when Jin shrugged and said “Nope!”

Kei really couldn’t stand either of them. 

Arashiyama was obviously deep into his timeline now, with the way he was grinning as he scrolled. Kei put his face into his hands preemptively, not ready for the look that Arashiyama would give him when he was finished.

Jin snickered. He was just lucky he didn’t have a unit to embarrass him on social media.

Arashiyama cleared his throat, and read “Number one: Jin Yuuichi, at talentedelite. Was last seen with Arashiyama,”

“Good reasoning,” Jin hummed, the shit-eating grin on his face aimed at Kei.

Arashiyama continued, however much Kei wished he wouldn’t.

“Number four: Tachikawa Kei, at mochikawa. Just a generally suspicious person.”

Arashiyama was barely holding in his laughter. Jin wasn’t even trying, leaning on Tachikawa’s arm as he wheezed.

Kei groaned “Nooo,” trying to forget the disgrace his name had been put through earlier today. “This is all your fault,”

Arashiyama, to his credit, nodded in agreement. He was definitely still laughing, but he played along with Kei’s dramatics at least.

“How will we ever clear your name of this shame?” Arashiyama said, shaking his head sadly. 

Jin, apparently only here to make the situation worse for Kei, a purpose which Kei was pretty sure extended to his reason for living, muttered “For shame, for shame.”

Kei ignored him. He had an idea. A pretty good idea. He pulled out his phone and announced “Time to pull out some photo evidence,”

Arashiyama immediately protested. “I look terrible right now!” he cried, but it was ignored by both Kei and Jin as they crowded into the frame, Arashiyama in the center.

A snap of his phone camera, and then Kei tweeted a selfie of them all together. 

 

**border’s top bitch** @mochikawa   
found him~ [IMG]

 

Arashiyama was covering his face, but had a glaringly obvious smile, brighter than the sun, softer than the clouds. 

Kei just looked smarmy. Jin did as well. The number of puppies Arashiyama must have kicked in his past life to deserve having the two of them inflicted upon him was unfathomable to Kei.

“You’re both terrible,” Arashiyama muttered, frowning at his reflection in his dresser mirror.

“You like it,” Jin said, an indisputable fact.

With a sigh, Arashiyama said “Yeah, I do,”. Luckily, he didn’t sound too upset. 

The exchange made Kei happy in ways he could never describe.

Already, the replies were flooding in to his tweet.

 

**Tokieda Mitsuru** @tokki   
@mochikawa Captain do you need us to come save you?

**kunichikachika** @alreadytracer   
@mochikawa tachikawa-san r u bothering arashiyama-san again

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@alreadytracer @mochikawa o cptn iz alwys gtn in arashiyama’s bsns if u ctch my drft

**border’s top bitch**   
@izmikhei @alreadytracer izumi.

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@mochikawa @alreadytracer ;) ;) ;)

**Yuiga Takeru** @yuiga_takeru   
@izmikhei @mochikawa @alreadytracer Captain! I have been tweeting you for the past hour!

**border's top bitch** @mochikawa   
@yuiga_takeru @izmikhei @alreadytracer oh srry i have notifs from people i don't follow turned off

**kunichikachika** @alreadytracer   
@mochikawa @yuiga_takeru @izmikhei captain… omg….

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@alreadytracer @mochikawa @yuiga_takeru LMFAO

**stabs as warning** @izmikhei   
@alreadytracer @mochikawa @yuiga_takeru LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

Kei was distracted from making fun of Yuiga, which was honestly one of his favourite things to do, by a tweet from Arashiyama popping up on his timeline. 

 

**Arashiyama Jun** @arashiyamajun   
Please clear all suspicion from Tachikawa, Jin and Kitora’s names. I love and trust them all very dearly :)

> **arafune** @prfctallrounder  
>  @prfctallrounder  
>  1\. jin yuuichi @talentedelite - was last seen with arashiyama  
>  2\. kitora ai @kitorai - has shown prior willingness to murder unit members  
>  3\. touma isami @no1sniper - wants 2 get into arashiyama’s pants  
>  4\. tachikawa kei @mochikawa - just a generally suspicious person

**Satori Ken** @twinsniper   
@arashiyamajun Blink if you’re being held at gunpoint and forced to say this

**hokari** @prfctsniper   
@arashiyamajun @no1sniper The Arashiyama Jun just told you to go die in front of his 102k followers how do you feel

 

“Arashiyama,” Kei said, fake tears in his voice. “That’s so sweet.”

Arashiyama rolled his eyes and nudged Kei in the arm. “Dramatic,” he said, as if all three of them weren’t dramatic as fuck.

“This is romance in the modern world,” Jin commented, following along on his phone. “Can we leave the gossips to their thing, though? I’m getting hungry.”

Arashiyama nodded, tucking his phone back in his pocket with a smile. “I haven’t eaten since yesterday,” he said, causing both Kei and Jin to choke.

“What the  _ fuck? _ ” Kei gasped sharply. Jin took a step towards Arashiyama, a hand placed on his arm, strangely intimate. It took a bit for Kei to wrap his mind around the fact that he could do that too; touch Arashiyama, casually, closely.

“I think we’ve all had an interesting two days,” Arashiyama said.

Jin huffed a laugh at that. “I actually went to therapy,” he replied, a fact that both impressed Arashiyama and left him extremely unimpressed.

Kei, never one to be left out, said “I trained my sword-fighting a lot.”

Jin, turning to Kei, gave a drawn out “Wow, really? That’s unexpected.” Arashiyama giggled, which was the only reason Kei let that comment go instead of kicking Jin’s ass right there and then to show him the results of his training.

Arashiyama, who could apparently sense the murderous intent in Kei, said “Now, now. Let’s go get something to eat.”

Kei summoned the courage to step up and brush Arashiyama’s fringe out of his eyes, and somehow managed to choke out “It’s our first date.”

The blush on Arashiyama’s features was worth it.

“Groooss,” Jin called, stepping towards the door. “For that, Kei is covering the bill.”

Kei, wasting no time, aimed a kick at Jin’s ass. Jin, not a second too late, deftly dodged. Arashiyama, right on cue, started to laugh.

It sent the rest of them laughing and smiling as well, and it struck Kei that this was really it. The three of them together were everything he loved: ridiculous, fun, thrilling. The feeling from before, all of the anxiety and fear and hesitation and  _ love, love, love _ , rushed through him and then left him reeling, and Kei wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

**border’s top bitch** @mochikawa   
first date ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡ [IMG]

**ikoiko nii~** @ikomacchi   
@mochikawa Arashiyama… be strong

**‘zaki** @kakizakikuniharu   
@ikomacchi @mochikawa date?! im calling the police

**rei** @viperqueen   
@mochikawa Arashiyama is a pretty complicated name are you sure you can pronounce it

**kumagai** @nasufan123   
@viperqueen @mochikawa babe are you shading him on my behalf. it’s not worth it. i love u but its not worth it

 

**Satori Ken** @twinsniper   
Everybody please pay respects to the death of my captain and his taste

> **border’s top bitch** @mochikawa  
>  first date ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡ [IMG]

**karasuma** @torimaru   
@twinsniper i cant even bring myself to f at this. this is a true tragedy

 

**border’s top bitch** @mochikawa   
FUCK ALL OF YOU (Ψ▼ｰ▼)∈ UR JUST MAD BC I HAVE 2 BFS 

**jin~jin~jin~** @talentedelite   
@mochikawa His weed? I roll that. His hand? I hold that. His back? I got that. His boyfriend? I am that. My role? I play that. We're happy? They hate that.

**Arashiyama Jun** @arashiyamajun   
@talentedelite @mochikawa ...

**jin~jin~jin~** @talentedelite   
@arashiyamajun @mochikawa love u <3

**Arashiyama Jun** @arashiyamajun   
@talentedelite @mochikawa …….. Love you too <3………….

**m.** @miwa12345  
@arashiyamajun @talentedelite @mochikawa text each other this shit this is twitter not fucking bordr

 

**Author's Note:**

> some people sleep on beds, some people sleep on couches, some people drunkenly sleep with their two crushes, some people sleep at their desks and some people sleep on world trigger.
> 
> the 'bordr' joke at the end is all thanks to my wonderful friend [damila](https://twitter.com/tsujishinnosuke) who is the best person ever and suffered through dealing w me while i wrote this fic
> 
> if you managed to get through all of this like actually truly congratulations, please consider donating to my ko-fi! it's linked in [my carrd](http://arashiyama.carrd.co) \- thank you so much if you do!


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